Page 209 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

a d m i ni s t er ing s acr e d n u r s in g ac t s
oping relationships, partnerships, and attachments to other people and
things, learning to honor one another in our interactions. It encom-
passes energetic dynamics related to humanitarianism, the ability to
engage in the larger pattern of life-humanity with values, ethics, and
courage.
Every human being has the need to be accepted and to belong to a
human group while also maintaining privacy and separateness. One’s
identity with group-belonging is closely related to establishing and
maintaining one’s own identity. One’s individual distinction comes
from the way a person conducts his or her own life in relation to other
people. A broad consideration of this need is centered in sharing, bal-
ancing individual and group dynamics and pressures, finding self in
other and vice versa, while honoring one’s unique self.
An earlier theory from social psychology and sociology, referred
to as the “Looking Glass Theory,” posited the position: “I look in the
mirror and I see myself as others see me.” This is a reminder that
Separation-Belonging: I-We, Me-Us constitutes a dialectical dynamic
that helps define the interactive process of achieving self-identity and
one’s relationship with self and other. Within this context it can be
explained that the affiliation need develops in response to environmen-
tal relatedness; one learns about oneself and others from the experi-
ences from one’s physical, social, behavioral, and emotional day-to-
day environment and relationships.
The affiliation system allows feedback from others; this is what
helps to shape one’s thoughts and to support feelings, what helps one
to identify and reduce anxiety. If one is deprived of this interaction,
the person may fail to develop his or her potential for relatedness
or become uncomfortable, withdrawn, or reclusive in interpersonal
relatedness.
Gratification and maturity with affiliation provide the capacity
for identification and commitment in social relatedness, allowing one
to be of use in one’s world. The underlying effectiveness of affilia-
tion is tied to consistent bonding, nurturing, and attachment between
mother/significant loving other and child from infancy onward.
Three interpersonal needs were identified in the early work of
Schultz (1967):

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